Knockdown bench unit



July 8, 1958 c. A. WORLEY 2,342,186

KNOCKDOWN BENCH UNIT Filed May 25, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 @m/mw July 8, 1958 c. A. WORLEY 2,842,186

' KNOCKDOWN BENCH UNIT Filed May 23, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PI INVENTOR.

CARTER :6. WO R1674 AsaeNT KNGCKDOWN BENCH UNIT Carter A. Worley, Clarksville, Ark., assignor to .1. Harold Smith, Fort Smith, Ark.

Application May 23, 1956, Serial No. 586,687

4 Claims. (Cl. 155--130) The present invention relates generally to seating equipment and more particularly to knockdown seats or benches for use at temporary and other locations.

There are many instances where seating equipment for large groups of people may not be permanently installed due to the need to use a particular area for other purposes or to a change of the meeting site of a group. In such situations, those charged with the responsibility of providing seats for the audience are faced with a major problem the root of which is the continuing and prohibitive cost.

Temporary seating arrangements of many types have long been known in the art and range from individual chairsfolding or not--to benches of various types including elaborate grand stands. In general such prior art structures have been characterized by a number of inherent disadvantages.

Among these are a lack of compactness resulting in storage and moving problems; a lack of ruggedness in knockdown or folding chairs or benches resulting in excessive breakage during installation, removal and storage; a lack of stability when set upon uneven ground such as camp meeting sites, etc.; an impractical weight accompanying rugged design; and an unnecessary complicated installation and erecting problem.

Accordingly, the chief object of the present invention is to provide improved seating equipment which will obviate the above and other disadvantages characterizing known prior art structures.

A further important object of the present invention is to provide an improved bench unit for seating a plurality of persons which may be readily set up or taken down without the use of fastenings, etc.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide an improved bench unit which will provide safe, stable seating for a plurality of persons on uneven ground.

A further important object of the present invention is to provide an improved bench unit which may be set up and so adjusted as to change the direction in which it faces.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bench unit comprising a minimum number of component parts, all of which intercooperate to form a rigid bench unit.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved bench unit which will be susceptible of ready and economical manufacture, and which will be rugged and of long life in use.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description.

In the drawings 1 have shown one embodiment of the invention. In this showing:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the bench unit comprising the present invention;

Figure 2 is a front elevational view thereof;

Figure 3 is a top plan view thereof;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of one of the seat and back supporting members; and

2,842,186 Patented July 8, 1958 air Figure 5 is a side elevation view of a slightly modified form thereon.

Referring to the drawings, numeral 10 designates the bench unit as a whole which comprises a plurality of laterally spaced, forwardly and rearwardly extending angle shaped base stringers 12, a plurality of longitudinally spaced, inverted U-shaped seat board supports 14 on each of the'stringers 12, a tubular socket 16 formed integrally with and projecting rearwardly and upwardly from each of the supports 14, a plurality of back rest boards 18, and a plurality of seat boards 20.

The stringers 12 and the seat board supports 14 are preferably formed of strong but lightweight aluminum and may be formed integrally or bolted rigidly together. The spacing of the supports 14 on the stringers 12 is equal and just adequate for the passage of persons between the rows of benches when the unit 10 is completely assembled.

An important feature of the present invention resides in the stability afforded the unit 10 by the manner of attachment of the back rest boards 18 to the sockets 16. A bar or pipe section 22 is rigidly fixed to the back of the boards 18 by bolts 24 at laterally spaced intervals equal to that of the supports 14. The diameter of the bars or pipes 22 is slightly less than that of the socket 16 so that a relatively snug fit is had. Thus, when a back board 18 is mounted on the supports 14 by means of the sockets, lateral and longitudinal stability is ensured. Further, when a pair of back boards 18 have been installed in any one bench unit 10, parallelism of the stringers 12 is thus fixed.

The upper surface of each of the supports 14 is preferably provided with a small upstanding lug 26 (Figures 1 and 4) which is received in a short hole 28 drilled in the middle of the bottom of the seat boards 20 at the same intervals of lateral spacing. Accidental displacement of the seat boards is thus prevented whenthe boards are in operative position.

It has been found that a bench unit 10 which includes three rows of benches is a convenient and practical sized unit to handle with respect to Weight, handling and storage problems. However, it will be appreciated that any number of rows of benches from two up is intended to come within the scope of the present invention. A single row comes within the purview of the invention structurally but requires the use of proportionately longer stringers 12. in order to assure stability on uneven surfaces. Similarly, in some circumstances, it may be desirable to have many rows of seats only one person wide in which case only a pair of the stringers 12 would be required and short boards 18 and 20 would be used.

In the assembly of the bench unit 10, the stringers would be placed in their approximate positions of use and the outer two would be stood in vertical position. The foremost seat board would be placed across the two to permit the lugs 26 to enter the holes 28 thus temporarily securing the members in operative position. The remaining stringers would then be stood up and similarly aligned whereupon the front or rear backboard 18 would be positioned by inserting its pipe sections 22 in its sockets 16 to firmly secure that bench in stable position; Assembly of the unit 10 is then completed by operatively positioning the balance of the seat and back rest boards.

It will be apparent that the lateral and longitudinal span of the unit 10 will afford more than adequate stability to the unit as a whole when placed on rough or uneven ground so that it is impossible for any of the benches to tip over.

Another important feature of the present invention resides in the fact that after the assembly of the unit it? in its position on a site, each of the benches of the unit may be simultaneously turned so that the occupants may face the speaker. it is conventional practice to have three or more banks of seats at a gathering and as is well known, only those seats directly in front of the speaker face him, the rest facing past him on each side.

As shown by the dotted line position of the bench unit 10 in Figure 3, the angle in which each of the benches face has been simultaneously changed by moving the right hand stringer rearwardly. All but the left hand stringer also are forced to move rearwardly but to a lesser degree. This movement is readily permitted by the pipe and socket connections between the back rest boards 18 and the supports 14 which only prevent tilting in any direction.

It will thus be noted that the seats are now inclined toward the speakers position while the aisle between banks of seats or bench units is maintained in a forwardly and rearwardly direction. Thus no safety ordnances are violated, the seats are easily and quickly erected in normal position, and the occupants are permitted to sit normally in a comfortable position while viewing the speaker dead ahead even though their seats are on the side.

In Figure 5 I have shown a slightly modified form of the invention wherein the support 14 is provided with a vertically extending socket 30 and the bar or pipe sections 22 are provided with a complementary bend intermediate their lengths so that the back rest boards 18 are inclined as before. This form of the invention eliminates the tendency of the benches of the bench unit 10 to tilt slightly when either of the outer stringers 12 are moved rearwardly to change the angle of the benches.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted 4 to without departure from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. A bench unit adapted to be faced in different angular directions comprising a pair of spaced stringers each including an upstanding support for a connecting seat board and a connecting back board, and means formed on said supports for mounting the seat board and the back board for pivotal movement about vertical axes with respect to said supports upon relative movement of said stringers.

2. A device as recited in claim 1 wherein spaced holes are formed in the bottom of the seat board and said seat board mounting means comprises upstanding lugs projecting into the holes.

3. A device as recited in claim 1 wherein spaced connectors are mounted on the back of the back board and said back board mounting means comprises upstanding members engaging said connectors.

4. A device as recited in claim 2 wherein spaced connectors are mounted on the back of the back board and said back board mounting means comprises upstanding members engaging said connectors.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,383,771 Skidmore July 5, 1921 1,542,770 Hess June 16, 1925 1,608,033 Nabors Nov. 23, 1926 2,774,413 Shepherdson Dec. 18, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 255,301 Switzerland Jan. 3, 1949 

